Page 96 - Veterinary Laser Therapy in Small Animal Practice

82 Veterinary Laser Therapy in Small Animal Practice

7.11 Case studies cases were treated with a class IV device, watts are
used instead of milliwatts.

The following are examples of the clinical use of LT in • Treatment time (Tx time): instead of just seconds,

patients who have been treated by the author (MS). The minutes (and seconds if needed) will also be used to

World Association of Laser Therapy approved a con- facilitate understanding of the time (you will prob-
sensus in 2004 about how treatment parameters used ably get a quicker idea of the time if you read 5 min
in clinical studies should be reported, [267] and although 15 s than if I say 315 s).
clinical cases are not the same as clinical trials, the • Energy dose delivered, in J/cm : in a clinical
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guidelines will be followed quite closely. These specify setting, being completely accurate is often not pos-
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that the following information regarding the descrip- sible, so consider that 4 J/cm could include 3.5 or 5
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tion of the intervention should be provided: next to J/cm . Total J per session will be reported.
each parameter you can read some notes on how it • Spot size on the skin in cm : a hand-piece with an
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applies to these cases and also to the ones under the adjustable zoom has been used in all cases, which
musculoskeletal section. combined with the distance from the patient’s
surface allows us to modify the spot size and con-

• Number of treatment sessions and frequency centrate or disperse the energy over a different area.
of sessions per week: in clinical cases this is not • Power density (W/cm ): again, as a class IV laser
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as strict as in a designed trial and may depend on was used, this will be expressed in W/cm instead of
extrinsic factors, such as the agenda or resources of mW/cm .
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the patient’s caretaker. So do not try to compare dif- • Accumulated energy delivered from all sessions, in
ferent cases in this section; one in which full closure joules, can be calculated using the total J per session
of a wound took 20 sessions might not be worse times the number of sessions (No. Tx).
than another that took 10; maybe the patient could
be seen less often, or maybe he was removing band- All treatments included both CW and pulsed emis-
ages and licking the wound. “Real-life” cases are dif- sion, unless otherwise reported, with about 20% of the
ferent from laboratory studies. energy delivered in CW and the rest within a pulse (mid
• Application procedure: scanning mode vs. sta- to very high) frequency range.

tionary or fixed spot; contact mode vs. non-contact The treatment area can be calculated using the total

mode. All musculoskeletal cases in Chapter 9 were energy per session and the J/cm ; every time a wound is
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treated in scanning mode, and all wound cases in treated, a 2–5 cm margin is included.
this section were treated in non-contact mode, Testing of optical output (am I getting the W that
unless otherwise specified. the screen says on the surface of my patient?) was per-

• Wavelength (nm) or wavelengths: all cases were formed with the devices used in these cases at several
treated using a combination of 660 nm, 800 nm, 905 points in time; your manufacturer or distributor

nm, and 970 nm, unless otherwise specified. will be able to provide you with this service, which is
• Average output power of the laser (Pa): since important, as with any clinical device.

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